Clouds, but no rain……
Posted by bapthorpe on Oct 28, 2008 in General Thoughts |
Microsoft announced it recognizes the merits behind bringing applications and resources off local computers and putting them in “the cloud”. This is great for education as it advances our desire to make learning resources available to students 24/27…everywhere….every time. The timing is also good because it supports the work of our TVT group as they explore cloud based applications like Google…Zoho…etc…Here is a brief TechCrunch article about this news.
Google also announced that they can provide a 99.9% sla for their email services…their advocacy for cloud email services is pretty impressive.
I love the “in the cloud” analogy…..I remember early in the day when you could not use an Apple floppy disk in a Windows machine and visa-versa…there was a time when the office and administrative staff had IBM computers and the classrooms were Apple IIe’s. I know I am really dating myself with that statement.
Anyway…I think it is exciting that you will be able to buy a computer out of the box and be able to access a network and then be able to do what you want to do anywhere. One of the biggest restrictions to students is the cost involved in purchasing software (ie…MS Office) that limits their ability to produce documents. Parents I have spoken to are amazed that there are free (OpenOffice, Googledocs) ways to create documents with out MS Office. While these are familiar to many of us on the TVT, there are many people who are not aware of what is out there for free.
I too am a fan of clouds. I love gmail and hope to one day see it as the email of Fairport! I am really excited about students having increased access to information, technology, communication and networking. As google and others continue to make more available for free and univerally acceptable more people will be able to access the technology. I always worry about the gap between those children and families who are online and those who are not. Cloud technology could help to lesson the gap as computers become more affordable when less software is required and kids can access previously software driven technology on public computers in places like libraries.
All that said, I still think there is a place and a need for locally based, owned and intuitive software. Much of what I do is on my personal computer because I prefer the interface of the software and the reliability of my hard drive. Call me old fashioned
Peace,
Matt Riccione
Cloud computing is a great way to get common tasks accomplished, that 15 years ago required the switching of floppies Now all you need is an Internet enabled device. The concept of the computer could in fact become a thing of the past. Today you can actually purchase a small highly portable computer that only really stores small amounts of the information on the solid state hard drive, it is the Asus EEE PC.
Think about how this will scale in the future, sure you can do some basic video editing online now, but it isn’t that great. What happens in 10 year? Perhaps your students will be editing video on their phones in full HD. The possibility of the cloud is powerful and will only increase in its capabilities as time moves forward.
My 2 Cents Tadge – -